The "Video Game Decency Act" is on the move

The U.S. government keeps adding more munitions into the war on the terror of video games. There is the "Truth in Video Games Act," (H.R. 5912) then the announcement that the ESRB must complete every game (S.3935) and now the "Video Game Decency Act" (H.R. 6120) is marching through the U.S. Congress.

Introduced by Republican Fred Upton, the bill is designed within the "guidelines of the Constitution, [and] is a simple, surgical approach to provide new regulatory authority for the Federal Trade Commission to punish bad players in the video game industry." You hear that? They are going after "bad players" now. So unless you have a video game championship under your belt, the FTC is coming for you. Better start practicing.

Seriously though, despite the awkward phrasing of this bill, H.R. 6120 seeks to give the FTC the power to "pursue financial sanctions" against publishers who "try to deceive the ratings system."

The Truth in Video Games Act is one thing, and making the ESRB play through every game all the way (no matter how ridiculous that sounds) is all good and fine. However, once words like "decency" start getting thrown around, we are touching the line of censorship and that's bad for everyone.